Your customers count on you for fresh, delicious food — whether it’s fruits, veggies, dairy, or deli sandwiches. But with a short shelf life, these items can quickly spoil, leading to waste and food safety risks.
Successful grocery stores use the first in, first out (FIFO) stock rotation system to keep older products front and center, making sure that nothing goes to waste. Want to keep your shelves fresh and customers satisfied? Here’s everything you need to know about FIFO and how to make this inventory management system work for your store.
What Is the FIFO Rotation System?
FIFO is a stock rotation system for keeping grocery stores organized and shelves stocked with fresh products. Used across industries from supermarkets to warehouse spaces, FIFO ensures that the oldest items are sold first by placing them at the front, where customers are most likely to grab them.
Strategic shelf and storage space organization is critical in a grocery store. By making it easier to reach older products with approaching expiration dates, you reduce waste and keep your customers happy with fresh, high-quality food.
Why Your Grocery Store Needs FIFO
Want to minimize losses, keep products fresh, and increase sales? It’s time to implement the FIFO system in your grocery store. This simple stock rotation method keeps your shelves organized, your customers happy, and your bottom line healthy.
With this stock rotation method, you can:
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Keeps products on the shelves fresh: With FIFO, older products are placed at the front of your shelves, making them the first choice for customers. This reduces the chance of expired goods lingering and ensures you have a fresher inventory turnover.
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Reduces shrinkage: FIFO helps reduce the risk of losing stock due to spoilage, limiting financial losses.
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Improves food hygiene and safety: With the FIFO rotation system, you can prevent spoiled items from reaching your shelves by removing them as soon as they hit their expiration date, reducing health risks to your customers.
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Optimizes storage space: FIFO gives you an easy-to-follow method for organizing your items on the shelves and cycling any old or expired products.
When done right, FIFO makes managing your perishables easier for you and your staff. Plus, your customers will love knowing they’re always getting the freshest picks — without worrying about grabbing something expired or past its prime.
4 Steps for Implementing a FIFO Rotation System in Your Grocery Store
If you think a FIFO inventory management system would work for your store, use the following steps to get the most out of it.
1. Use a POS System To Track Perishables
A point of sale (POS) system makes it easy to implement a FIFO stock rotation system. With built-in inventory management tools, you can track every product by expiration date and category — no more guesswork.
Instead of manually sorting shelves, let your POS system do the work. It automatically organizes products, keeping older items upfront while the newest stock moves to the back — this means less time sorting and more time selling.
Want to avoid spoilage? Set up automated alerts for expiring products so you can apply discounts or rotate stock before it’s too late.
2. Train Your Staff on FIFO Practices
Even with the most advanced POS system and an inventory manager, your team is critical to making FIFO work. Get them up to speed on why FIFO matters, how to arrange shelves, and respond to system alerts before products expire.
Set clear, no-nonsense guidelines for handling near-expired products — whether marking them for donation or offering deep discounts at checkout. During restocking, make it second nature for employees to check expiration dates, rotate inventory correctly, and keep shelves organized from front to back.
A well-trained team means fresher products, less waste, and more efficient workflows — all things that keep your store running like a well-oiled machine.
3. Improve Your Restocking Methods
Want to make your FIFO even more effective? Step up your restocking strategy! Set up a system to handle newly arrived stock so the freshest items always go to the back — whether on store shelves or in the warehouse.
Get organized with labels, color-coded tags, or sectioned storage to sort backstock by shelf life. And don’t just restock whenever — use off-peak hours to refresh shelves, rotate products, and double-check expiration dates without disrupting customers.
When done right, FIFO is a seamless part of your day-to-day operations that keeps shelves fresh, waste low, and sales high.
4. Inspect Your Stock Regularly
A POS system, strategic restocking, and well-trained employees should make FIFO a breeze — but even the best systems can’t catch everything. Products get shuffled, misplaced, or overlooked, and the last thing you want is a near-expired item ending up in a customer’s cart.
Stay ahead of the game with daily shelf checks. Do a quick scan to catch misplaced or forgotten products and ensure everything is still fresh and safe to sell. Extra diligence goes a long way in keeping your store organized and shelves stocked with quality products.
FIFO Rotation System: The Key to Freshness and Efficiency
FIFO is a simple system that makes a big impact. It keeps your grocery store running efficiently while making sure food stays fresh and safe. When applied correctly, it cuts down on waste, keeps shelves stocked with the best products, and makes sure customers always get top quality.
With POS Nation, you have everything you need to make your store’s FIFO rotation system second nature, from real-time inventory tracking to automated expiration alerts. Stop losing money on expired products — book a demo today to see how POS Nation makes FIFO effortless.